Crush
by watchitstark
Summary: Hermione has a big gay crush on her best friend's mum, who doesn't know about it, right? HG/LE really really AU what is canon. For the Mix and Match Pairing Competition.


**Challenge:**Mix and Match Pairing Competition - Round One  
**Challenger:**Cheeky Slytherin Lass  
**Pairing:**Hermione Granger/Lily Evans Potter  
**Prompts:** Amazed, Chilly, "Promise me one thing", tea kettle

**A/N:**AU where everything is the same but Neville is the "Chosen One". All the same people die, apart from Lily (that includes James it's kind of convenient to not have him around)

**Crush**

"It's so cold out at the moment," Hermione sighed and blew on her hands, pausing her excursion to Hogsmeade to get herself some sort of hot beverage from The Three Broomsticks.

"You look as though I should be putting the kettle on as opposed to handing you a Butterbeer," Rosmerta laughed as she handed the freezing student her beverage. "Drink up, it'll warm you right through," she advised, watching Hermione take a seat at the bar and pull her scarf and gloves and coat off, shaking snowflakes out of her curly hair.

"Thanks Rosmerta," she sighed gratefully, grinning as she drank deeply from the small pewter tankard. "Ah that's so much better."

"I thought so chicken, now you just get nice and warm again."

At that moment the door opened again, bringing with it a flurry of snowflakes and a red-head who's face was pink from cold.

"Lily, you look frozen!" Rosmerta greeted cheerfully, already filling a mug with her customary butterbeer.

"Thanks," she smiled, looking content enough despite the obvious things that could be causing her some distress, one of the most notable of these things would be the snowflakes that she was shaking out of her hair and brushing off her shoulders, similar to the actions Hermione a few moments ago. Again she followed Hermione's previous actions, slowly discarding her outdoor wear onto a stool to her left and taking up the one next to the younger witch, who was smiling at her curiously.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here," she said easily, still sipping her drink slowly.

"Hermione! I would have thought you'd be in school still? I thought Minerva was keeping you busy with that Transfiguration apprenticeship."

"I finished for the day and came down to get some supplies, and also to see how Aberforth was doing – he's not been so great since Dumbledore died, you know?"

"Is he talking to anyone yet?" she asked softly, concerned.

"I can usually get him to talk about just day to day things, about the pub and sometimes he talks about goats? But no one's managed to get a meaningful, deep conversation about how he is and what he needs since way before Dumbledore died."

"It must be strange for him, to have people suddenly so interested in his welfare," she paused. "He probably thinks that we simply only care about him now that we don't have our favourite Dumbledore any more. I suppose we couldn't blame him for that thinking either."

Hermione sighed. "I know, but in my defence I didn't know who he was until rather recently," she sighed and then rather obviously changed topics. "So what brought you here?"

"Oh I just needed to pick up some things," she shrugged. "I do rather wish I'd picked a different day for it, or at least forced Harry to go for me."

"How is he?"

"Irritating," she laughed. "Now that everything's died down his job has taken a turn towards paperwork, and he was actually considering quitting and joining some Quidditch team that had sent him an offer."

"Well being an Auror isn't always going to be chasing down bad guys," Hermione laughed. "I haven't seen him in ages actually, I've been so busying with Minerva."

"Oh she let's you call her Minerva, does she?" Lily teased, grinning as Hermione blushed. "Your crush on her is adorable."

"I don't have a crush!" she protested, and then sighed. "Yeah I do. But you know it seems to be my type, women that are smart and older than me."

"Is it a power thing?" Lily asked curiously and then laughed. "You don't have to answer that, I didn't think before asking."

"No, it's fine. And no, I don't think it is. I think it's just an intelligence thing, like I can have a conversation with, say, you, or Minerva much more effectively than I can with most people my age."

"Why Hermione are you trying to tell me something?" she teased, laughing as the younger witch's blush deepened.

"What? No. No of course not you're my best friend's mum how weird would that be," she laughed nervously.

"You're a terrible liar," she looked at her as though considering something for a long moment. "I suppose you've never told anyone and kept it to yourself and never expected anything to come of it?"

"Something like that," she murmured, eyeing Lily with confusion.

"So if something were to happen, you'd be shocked and amazed and rather pleased."

"Well obviously, I mean isn't that how most people who have crushes on their best friend's mums tend to feel?"

She laughed. "I suppose I wouldn't know, Eileen Prince was hardly an exemplary example of a "hot mum"."

"And you're saying you are?" Hermione grinned.

"Well I must be at least vaguely okay looking otherwise you wouldn't have a crush on me, right?"

"Hmm I wouldn't count on that, I've had some questionable ones over my youth."

"Anyone I know?"

"Even if there was I wouldn't tell you," the brunette laughed. "It's bad enough you already know about yourself and Minerva."

"Hermione, everyone knows about Minerva, you can barely say her name without going all starry-eyed," she grinned and then eyed her for a moment. "Promise me one thing?"

"What?" the younger witch questioned, confused by her sudden intensity.

"Don't tell Harry about this," she smirked and then leant forward, kissing the shorter woman softly on the lips, letting her deepen the kiss for a long moment.

"Well, that's not what I was expecting when I left for Hogsmeade earlier today."

"Oddly neither was I," Lily grinned again, surprised at her own reaction. Somehow knowing that the younger woman had feelings for her, even if it simply was just a crush, had changed the way she felt about the brunette, opening her up to the possibility of maybe seeing where this would go. "I'd like to do that again," she said quietly, smiling as Hermione took the invitation to kiss her harder than before.


End file.
